


Descendants: Hook Em

by NickNacks101



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), Disney - All Media Types, The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Auradon Prep (Disney), Fae Mal (Disney), Isle of the Lost (Disney) is a Terrible Place, Multi, Polyamory, Possessive Harry Hook, Protective Harry Hook, Sweet Gil (Disney: Descendants), United States of Auradon (Disney), United States of Auradon (Disney) Is Not Perfect
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:15:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27581231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NickNacks101/pseuds/NickNacks101
Summary: Ben invites five VK's to Auradon Prep, though the last one might have a few things to say about it or not. He feels a sense of deja vu when looking between the purple haired fae and the slip of a teen that hasn't spoken a word to him, yet he feels like he knows how she would sound.
Relationships: Ben/Mal/Harry/Uma/OFC, Doug/Evie (Disney: Descendants)
Kudos: 14





	1. Glimpses

Ben glanced over at the five teens he’d brought over from the Isle of the Lost, only just last week, his first decree as the soon to be King of all of Auradon. His blue eyes roamed over the huddled over four scarfing down their dinners, though the blue haired Evie was doing it touch more delicately, her elbows were still jutted out surrounding her plate, eyes constantly flickering about the dining hall just like the other three. His eyes moved on to where the fifth Isle resident sat, a table away from the rest, she wasn’t eating, he hadn’t seen her take a bite of anything at any meal he’s seen her at actually, but just like the other four her hazel eyes never stopped darting around the room, her brown hair cut into a short pixie style from what he could tell, though her hair was mostly hidden by a patched up dirty red beanie that covered her ears and had seen better days or years, but that was also something he’s never seen her without. He wanted to ask why she wasn’t included in the group, the closest he’d seen the group of four get to her or her to them was the first day when they climbed out of the limo, well Jay and Carlos tumbled out fighting over a blanket, but still even when climbing out there had been space between them and her, it was like an invisible wall sat between them. He didn’t know why, but he had believed, _hoped_ , that all five would have been friendly to each other, to have a shoulder to lean on as they acclimated to Auradon Prep.

“Benny-boo!” Audrey calls out in a high-pitched singing song tone right beside him, regaining his strayed attention.

He looks over at the princess, the girl he’s been dating for the last two years, though if you asked Audrey they’d been dating since preschool and were destined to marry and rule together once they turned eighteen, “Yes?”

“Weren’t you listening?”

“I’m sorry, I got lost in thought.”

Sighing slightly before she caught herself and rolled her shoulders back, sitting impossibly straighter as she asks in a slightly annoyed tone, “About what?”

“Do you think we should go over there,” chin jutting towards the Isle transfers, he should be doing more, but it didn’t seem like there was enough time in the day with preparing for Coronation, King’s training, school, homework, tourney, and making sure to keep his girlfriend somewhat happy through all of that.

Disgust flickers across her face, not even having to look over to where the purple haired daughter of her family’s sworn enemy sat, “I think they’re just fine.”

“But --”

“Doug is handling them, now just relax and spend time with _our_ friends you know you’re going to be busy all this week with training for Kingship and the game coming up next weekend. Oh! Did I tell you we have a new cheer we’re working on?”

Ben shakes his head, forcing himself to focus on the subject his girlfriend starts animatedly talking about, though out of the corner of his eye he watches as the beanie wearing girl stands, grabbing her books and uneaten plate that held a single apple and biscuit. He needed to carve out time to make rounds in the next few days, make sure all of them were acclimating, he knew Jay and Carlos were, at least somewhat, they tried out for the Tourney team yesterday and it went as smoothly as anyone could hope for; now he just needed to check in on the three girls, see if Mal took him up on his comment of art class, he hoped she did, the graffiti on her locker showed amazing talent, though the message wasn’t likely gaining her any points nor was the defacing of school property.

*************

“He’s staring again,” Jay mutters out through his bites of food.

“Let him, it got pirate girl to leave,” Mal orders, though she didn’t seem happy about it.

“What if he catches on?”

“Onto what?”

“You know,” eyebrow rising slightly, _plan, magic wand, parents, long live evil_.

“Well then I’ll just order pirate girl to talk to him.”

“Like she’d talk to you,” it’d been a year or so since he’d even seen her face on the Isle, let alone heard her voice. He’d been surprised when she had been tossed into the limo, apparently if they had decided not to come willingly to Auradon, Maleficent had been willing to use brute force, her Knuckle heads had half carried, half dragged a wiggling and freshly bruised up Zora all the way from Hook’s Inlet, where all the pirates of the Isle tended to stick around at, to Bargain Castle with a steaming Harry Hook, Uma, and Gil running after the brutish looking Goons, each with their own sets of bruises.

Mal glared.

Jay shrugs in response going back to stuffing his face with the last bits of food on his plate, Auradon had one thing good about it, food was readily available at mealtimes and it wasn’t moldy or rotten or already half eaten.

“Why wouldn’t she talk to Mal?” Evie inquires between a bite of salad, looking over at the two oldest of their Core Four gang. 

Carlos glances between the three unsurprised when neither Jay nor Mal don’t deem to answer the question, questions involving Zora typically went unanswered by them, and he knew Evie, who was still so new to their little group, only coming out of banishment after ten years, a few months ago, had most likely never known anything of Zora, past her reputation at Dragon Hall, though Zora hadn’t been in attendance much or if she had been he’d only seen her trademark beanie in the crowd of villain kids that went there maybe only a handful of times in the last year. Pushing his now empty plate away from him and finally focusing on that feeling of being overly stuffed, a feeling he’s only felt in the last week, even though his and the rest of his gang’s plates were only half as filled compared to the Auradonians’ plates were, he’d still feel sick later, maybe throw up like he had the first two days when he’d eaten more than he should, going from the Isle where one meal a day was considered a blessing to here where three meals a day seemed like a requirement, his stomach protested loudly at the amount of variety and numerous sweets he’d tried for the first time and been consuming with fervor ever since, on the Isle the next meal was never guaranteed, you could go days sometimes and here on Auradon he wasn’t willing to pass on the meals in fear that they would disappear. When Evie turns curious brown eyes on him, he answers with “Zora hasn’t talked in over a year,” though he didn’t know if that was really true, he hadn’t truly been face to face with her in that time, though it was better than getting into the messy subject.

“Oh.”


	2. Sprains

“Bippity boppity no, no, no. Zora, please go to the nurse’s office,” Fairy Godmother quickly calls out from the small platform area, light shake to her head, when she sees the teen slowly walk into the study hall, the hall having been repurposed by her for an hour each afternoon so that she could teach the Remedial Goodness 101 class she’d tailored for the VK’s. 

Mal looks up from her drawing at the words _nurse’s office_ , turning sharp green eyes back towards where Zora stood at the archway leading out to the hallway, favoring her right foot as she clutched a few of the school issued textbooks the school had given each of them, along with a couple notebooks and a few pencils close to her chest. Jay looking over as well seeing the favoring just as easily, while Carlos frowns in worry at the brunette, and Evie looks over in confusion when she sees a protective demeanor flash over Jay’s features, one she’s only seen on him in regards to Mal, Carlos, and herself, being aimed at the pirate girl.

Zora raises an eyebrow at the suggested order, her thoughts turning to _Why? Is she serious? It’s nothing I can’t or haven’t handle myself before._

Fairy Godmother ignores the look, taking the one step off the raised platform, “Zora you have to get your ankle checked out,” worry covering her entire tone as she starts walking down the aisle of tables towards the teen.

Zora’s eyes widen at the concern, the _open_ concern, on Isle that openness of emotion that wasn’t anger or mischief or disdain could get you beat, that _softness_ wasn’t given in the open, it took a great deal of trust and respect to be shown even a glimpse of that softness in private. Not wanting the fairy any closer, she nods, hoping the headmistress will take that as her agreement to the order and not follow after her, and then spins on the metal heel of her right boot, the metal scraping lightly at the wood flooring; Harry had found the boots two years prior on one of the garbage barges that came through, the soles had been worn down then and only got worse with being her only pair of shoes, so when they finally gave way to a giant holes, Gil had taken broken off pieces from a dilapidated tin roof and super glued them to what remained of the bottoms so she could keep wearing them around, since unlike most shoes that came to the Isle they actually fit her small feet and didn’t look like a wee one would have worn them first, Uma had questioned why he hadn’t just used leather from a belt when he presented them back to her, but he’d shrugged and said he hadn’t thought about that; she, herself, was just happy that he hadn’t used any of the iron that laid around from old appliances or broken radiators that had been cast off to the Isle.

Fairy Godmother halted in her steps right between the other four teens’ tables, as the smallest of the VKs practically bolted out the room, though she older than Carlos by almost a year according to the limited records she had received from the Isle, though she couldn’t really call the paper that fit all five teens information on it a record, since it had nothing, but the first name of the VK, the parents name, though only Jay and Zora had both parents’ names written down, and only the month and year as a date of birth for all, but Evie, who also had the day, there wasn’t any mention of medical or school records or even a home address for any of the five, “She’s going right?” 

Mal snorts, going back to her drawing, while Evie just stares at the headmistress, Carlos shrugs, and Jay forces himself to look forward at the board that once again has multiple choice questions that are from another hero/villain story, reading the first question he wishes he could just go after Zora and he knew despite the snort, Mal was worried too, _You find a bag of pixie dust, do you, A) Experiment with it? B) Give it to pirates? C) Turn it over to the proper authorities?_

*************

Ben stepped into the large school library, it was still smaller than his family library back at home, but considering it was well known his mom’s affinity for books and reading it was no surprise that her personal library would be grand; breathing a sigh of relief when his eyes catch the familiar red beanie hidden in the farthest corner of the room. After hearing from Fairy Godmother when he’d gone to talk to her about his upcoming Coronation in five weeks, along with getting the headmistress’ opinion on how the Isle teens were acclimating, that Zora had sprained her ankle during her PE class’ soccer scrimmage, the class having apparently been more competitive than normal, he made it his mission to check in on her that day after his Kingship meeting with the United Sidekicks and then more training, and everything else he couldn’t cancel on, not with becoming King next month, not with all of Auradon counting on him to keep their kingdom running smoothly, so despite it being only an hour until curfew and that he hadn’t had a chance to eat since lunch and that he still had homework to complete for tomorrow, it was the first chance he had since finding out to look for her and he’d gone straight to Zora’s dorm room, only to find her roommate Asha, the youngest daughter of Pacha and Chicha, there alone, the Peruvian teen saying she didn’t know where Zora could have gone, but that the Isle born teen was usually out until just before curfew, after that he’d gone to Evie and Mal’s room only to find them not there, and then to the Jay and Carlos’ to find all four hanging out having not seen Zora since Fairy Godmother had sent her to the nurse’s office earlier in the day, though Carlos had thrown out that Zora liked books, when he asked if they knew where she might go, which lead him here. Whispering out when he was close enough, “Hey, Zora.”

Looking up quickly from her spot in the corner bay window, her sprained ankle laying out across the padded bench propped up with her jacket, giving a small wave in return to his greeting, she couldn’t exactly ignore the Crowned Prince soon to be King, and for some reason she didn’t want to, and it wasn’t just because he was the one that got her off the Isle of the Lost, even if she hadn’t wanted to leave Harry, Uma, and Gil and it also wasn’t because he was the first Auradon that seemed to give a shit about the VKs that were born onto the Isle and after hearing the not so subtle whispers and the full out provoking in regards to herself and the rest of the VKs, she couldn’t exactly wave his niceness away as a publicity stunt to gain favor, since it seemed according to the gossip around school and the newspapers and magazines she perused daily that the general consensus among royals and so called heroes was that the VKs were just mini villains in waiting, that haven’t been able to show their true potential enough to be thrown back to the Isle.

“How’s the ankle?” sitting down on the bench next to her feet, frowning when he notices the warped discolorment on the bottom of both shoes, asking curiously, “What is that?” tapping at the bottom her boot that wasn’t propped up, only to hear a light pinging noise in the air a moment later, “Is that metal?” shock covering his tone, “Why are the soles metal?” Blue eyes going back up to hazel when no response was given to him, “I can get you new shoes, ones that are way more comfortable than these definitely are,” tapping at the metal again.

She gives a small shake of her head, she wasn’t going to owe him more, besides what would she need two pairs of shoes for, she only had one pair of feet.

“Why not?” a sadness washing over his demeanor.

Leaning forward she tentatively places a hand on his forearm, patting it a few times before squeezing lightly and leaning back.

Ben gives a soft smile, “You don’t talk, do you?”

Shrugging, she used to, she hopefully still could, she just hadn’t tried, not since that night, she could still feel his meaty hand wrapped around her throat, squeezing her.

“That’s okay. So, what book is that?” Zora lifts the heavy book up for him to read and he grins, reading the title out loud, “United Kingdoms of Auradon Legislator and Rules, Volume Two,” before jokingly adding, “Long read that one, I like _Swiss Family Robinson_ myself.”

She gives a light laugh at that.

Ben’s smile grows at the soft angelic sound, it was just like one of the girls of his dream and it just became his favorite sound since it was _real,_ and it made her eyes sparkle and it washed away all feelings except for happiness in him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think?


	3. Soft

“Boyfriends are overrated.”

“And how would you know, Mal? You’ve never had one,” Evie comments out. 

Ignoring the fact that she had had one, would have still had one, though it was more gang activity than saying boyfriend and girlfriend, they weren’t a pair, they had been a group, the other three still were; and if not for needing to be more evil, to make her mother proud for once by not giving into soft emotions her apparently weak father had spoiled her bloodline with, she would have still been part. Flicking her eyes up for barely a moment as she responds monotonously with “That’s because I don’t need one E,” before glancing to the side where Jane sat on Evie’s bed and was the reason for this conversation in the first place, and added, “They’re a waste of time,” _according to Maleficent_.

A sharp breath of panic came from Evie then, “I forgot to do Chad’s homework,” shooting up from her sewing machine and quickly pacing towards her bookbag, once that was in hand rushing towards the empty table, giving off soft ‘Oh no’s,’ as she does. 

“And that is exactly what I mean,” coloring in the green flecks of her ex’s eyes, next to the sketches of her other two, the images weren’t whole, only highlighting some of her favorite features that she had etched into her memory like the raw untapped power held in the eyes of one or the flirty smirk of another, her drawings didn’t give any of them justice, but it’d been over a year since she’d been given these looks, she’d given them up, had been _forced_ to give them up because they weren’t minions, would never be beneath her, not in the way that her mother respected anyway and it was only due to being the leader of Jay, Carlos, and now Evie, that she was able to keep them close, and it helped that their parents were in Maleficent’s eyes her own underlings, though a step above the Knuckle heads and the rest of the Isle’s villains.

*************

Audrey gave an irritated scowl that she quickly wiped from her face when Ben’s eyes finally tore themselves from the smallest VK, the only VK in the dining hall today, hiding her disdain through a coo, “Benny boo, why are you so focused on those,” stopping herself from saying, _villains_ , and instead barely stopping herself from spitting out, “Kids,” though it does come out harsher than all her other words.

Ben sighs, “Audrey.”

Cutting him off, “They’re bad news.”

“Give them a chance,” eyes going back to Zora who sat reading _Swiss Family Robinson_ , she hadn’t known she could take books out of the library and Ben had gotten to see the joy seep through her when he told her the fact two nights ago, after he noticed she always put the books back, writing in her notebook the page number she had been forced to stop at due to curfew; that night he helped her carry the heavy legislature book along with a few more books back to her room as she hobbled with her crutch, holding onto her notebooks and pens; he’d asked if she had a bookbag, but she’d just shook her head and held the notebooks tighter to her chest as they walked.

“That one doesn’t even talk.”

He frowned, turning back to his girlfriend, “That doesn’t matter, she’s sweet.”

“ _Sweet_? She’s Captain Hook’s daughter, she’s a _pirate_ , probably the one that tried to steal Fairy Godmother’s wand.”

“That was a malfunction in the breadbox circuit.”

Scoffing lightly, “Yeah a _malfunction_ ,” a malfunction on the pirate’s part.

“ _Audrey_.”

“Benny boo you’re just too nice.”

Sighing once again, he looked at his wristwatch, breathing a sigh of relief for the first time in the conversation, “I have to get to a meeting.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight Audrey.”

*************

“No! It says we need one tear of human sadness,” Mal states, looking at her mother’s prized grimoire, “And this love potion gets the best reviews. So, we have to follow it exactly.”

“A tear’s a tear,” Jay says indifferently, the onion suggestion by Carlos was the only way he saw getting any of them to tear up without bodily harm, besides if the _human_ part of the equation was important that took out him and Mal, due to their magical bloodlines and he knew Carlos wouldn’t be able to cry, maybe not even with the onion, he’d seen the dual haired teen be stuck in a bear trap and barely let tears fall, and Evie was taught not to let any emotion that a Prince might not want to deal with even show on her face and definitely nothing that would make her face splotchy or ruin her makeup.

“That’s not true Jay,” Evie explains from beside Mal, “They both have antibodies and enzymes, but an emotional tear has more protein-based hormones than a reflex tear.”

“Listen to you,” Mal cooed at Evie, giving a proud smile towards the slightly younger teen, as she continued to stir the cookie mix.

“Yeah I knew that,” Jay mentions, trying to save face.

Carlos smacked Jay on the arm, making sure not to hit Dude, who sat in a mixing bowl between them, as he teased, “Did not.”

“Yeah I did.”

“There you are Mal!” Lonnie speaks out coming into the kitchen.

*************

Lonnie wipes the remainder of the tears from her face, those faces, the complete cluelessness of chocolate chips, or having a mother’s advice making you feel better. She’d thought _even villains love their kids_ , but their faces, the blank confusion. She didn’t mean to run into Asha in the hall, instead of apologizing or saying hi she states plainly, “Your roommates with the VK.”

Asha frowns, “Yeah?” everyone on her floor knew that, she had been lucky enough to have a two person dorm to herself this year, everyone had been jealous of the fact, since it was something only royals usually had the luck to have, but then Zora came along, and everyone else breathed a sigh of relief that they didn’t have to room with a VK.

“What’s she like?”

“Quiet,” it was really the only way she could describe the VK.

“Has she talked about the Isle?”

“She hasn’t talked period; I wouldn’t even know her name if it wasn’t for Doug saying it the first day when he introduced us.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“Red and black huge difference from orange and green,” not knowing how to just come out and ask what she wanted or even know what she wanted to ask; besides it wasn’t like Asha would know, especially if Zora never talked to begin with.

“I guess,” shrugging lightly, “But it’s not like she has anything to really clash with me, honestly if it wasn’t for the books that are taking up space now, and that’s only been since Prince Ben’s been helping her carry them back the last few nights, I’d forget she’s even there. She brought over like two outfits, if it wasn’t for the school giving her toiletry items and school supplies, she’d have nothing.”

“Two outfits?”

“I’m sure she could wear it as one, I’m positive she had been wearing all of it when she showed up the first day, but she cleaned them in the bathroom or at least did until I caught on and told her about the washer and dryer down the hall and she rotates them.”

“Huh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you guys think?


	4. Did I Mention

Zora waves, carefully shifting the few books she had stacked in his spot to the floor when she notices Ben coming over.

“You’re coming to my game tomorrow, right?” Ben starts off when he walks into the corner of the library, the corner he’s quickly started considering _theirs_. Since that first night on Monday, four days ago, after all his meetings and everything else he needed to do for Kingship and Coronation were done, he’d spend the last few hours before curfew here, bringing his homework and just soaking up Zora’s quiet presence, as she read or did her own homework and when he finished he’d just sit there, sometimes striking up conversation that she’s give subtle head movements to and just yesterday had even wrote down what she wanted to say in reply, it was only a few words and her handwriting was messy and wasn’t like the perfect cursive he was used to seeing from all the girls in Auradon, but it was hers and she was willing to talk in her own way. And she treated him as just _Ben_ , not Prince Ben, and not soon to be King Ben. He felt _free_ for the first time in years.

She gives a single nod, she hadn’t planned on it, but it’d be rude to say no, especially since Ben had been so nice to her and besides Jay and Carlos apparently were going to play, according to the gossip she heard around the school, and they might not have been allies anymore on the Isle due to Mal breaking the alliance with Uma, but here on Auradon they were the only people she knew enough to even consider alliancing with.

Ben smiled broadly at that, sitting down in his spot and leaning over to catch what the brunette had been reading.

It was a few minutes later that Ben announces, “I’m breaking up with Audrey.”

Zora nods, unshocked, what she’d seen of the relationship had been horrible, what Ben had told her when he rabbled about his day hadn’t shed the best light on it either. The two royal teens didn’t look the least bit interested or comfortable with each other in the capacity of being each other’s true love. Audrey seemed all about the title she’d receive if Ben continued the relationship and Audrey as Queen was a horrible thought. And Ben had always acted like more space would be a better fit than less space when it came to Sleeping Beauty’s daughter.

“We’re just not right for each other. I’m going to be King soon and the person I’m with needs to be able to support me and want to make Auradon better, not just Auradon fashion. I know that’s rude, but I don’t love her. I can’t see us spending a life together, not anymore. And I’m not going to string her along.”

Zora nods.

“I’m going to do it tomorrow before the game or should I do it after, I don’t want her being distracted.” Glancing at the brunette who was just looking at him, giving no sway to either answer, he makes up his mind, “Before. I should do it before. And I will, she deserves someone who will love her and that’s not me.”

She nods at that.

“You ever have a boyfriend, Zora?”

Zora shakes her head before nodding her head lightly, boyfriend wasn’t the term she’d use, no one on the Isle used that term, but for simplicity sake she’d call her Pirate that, if asked, call her Captain, her girlfriend. It wasn’t what she had though, it was a commitment and true love, even though she’d never say that aloud, not on the Isle, that statement could be used against them, against her.

*************

“Listen Audrey,” a serious expression coming over his face.

Cutting off Ben, “I will see you at the game after my dress-fitting for the coronation, okay?” her tone making it not a request, as she pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes getting ready to walk away.

Sighing, “Okay.”

“Bye, Benny-boo.”

“Bye,” he hated when she said that nickname, her voice always changed to the high-pitched squeal she used on her dog, turning back to his locker as she left.

“Hey Benny-boo,” Mal calls out sarcastically.

Ben turns, smiling over at the purple haired fae that was holding a single cookie in a Ziplock bag in front of her, “Hey.” Her saying it wasn’t as painful to his ears, still not what he wanted to hear, but at least she was striking up the conversation first this time.

*************

Zora sat slack jawed as Ben and the rest of the tourney team, including Jay and Carlos, both teens she knew hated the spotlight, hated being noticed cause on the Isle being noticed was bad, it led to pain or being caught and caught led to pain, danced around the field. Ben proclaiming for all to hear his love for Mal.

*************

“She said yes!” Ben yelled into the microphone, before being pulled back onto the field by the rest of the celebrating team; as the announcer who reclaimed another microphone started announcing, Jay as the MVP of the game.

Mal glanced at where Zora was sitting, she’d seen the pirate earlier and now a sense of dread filled her as hazel eyes caught on her green ones, before turning back towards Evie, who had a giant smile on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you guys think?


	5. First Date

“Should we get Zora in on this now?” Carlos inquires, wincing when Jay slaps his arm at bringing Zora’s name into the conversation.

At the same time, Mal shoots him a glare in answer over the papers of the cathedral the Coronation was happening in, “ _Pirate girl_ needs to stay out of this.”

“You think she’d take the wand for her crew?” Evie examines.

“Yes,” was said at the same moment, “No,” was.

Mal and Jay glared at each other, Jay being the first to speak, “You tell her why and it’d be a no. She owes you a debt.”

Mal reminding, “Didn’t you say just two weeks ago, that I’d have a hard time even getting her to talk.”

“Talk yes, listen to you, no.”

“What debt?” Evie asks in shock.

“It’s nothing, E,” Mal says quickly.

“It’s a _debt_ , it’s not nothing,” debts to a fae were life binding and dangerous if you were indebted to the wrong fae, even with the Isle being magicless and the power of the debt reduced to nothing, they were still regarded in the same vein as a blood oath.

“It’s been paid, okay.”

“When?” Jay inquires.

“It doesn’t matter,” Mal dismisses.

“Mal --”

“Leave it Jay.”

“That debt --”

“Has been paid,” green eyes flashing a neon green.

Jay nods quickly, and Evie redirects, “Okay well, I need you guys to look over the sketches for your outfits for Coronation,” pulling her newest sketchbook out of her backpack that sat in the chair between her and a quiet Carlos.

*************

“Help me!” Ben states in a hushed yell, rushing over towards Zora, who sat in her typical spot in the library.

Eyebrows furrowing in, the brunette looks up at Ben with a questioning and concerned look gracing her features.

“I asked Mal on a date for today,” it’d been a full week since his big announcement through song, since then he’d been busy with Kingship training and Coronation preparations and today was his first full afternoon off in weeks it seemed, they’d talked, he’d been invited to finally sit with Mal and her friends at meals, a few times, when he had the time to actually sit down to eat that was, and he wanted to spend his free time today with Mal and a part of him wanted to spend it with Zora too, she’d been his sanctuary in the quiet of the night, but he was with Mal now and if he barely had time for one he could only dream of having two. “I don’t know what to do, I never had to plan a date before. Audrey always did the planning,” demanded to do the planning ever since he’d suggested that he’d wanted to take her on a hike as a date, “She always wanted to shop or to watch a romcom. I doubt Mal likes that stuff, does she?” It seemed more Evie’s idea of fun, not Mal’s, but he knew even Lonnie enjoyed shopping and watching sappy movies. “And I hated doing that stuff constantly.”

Flipping to the last page of her notebook she was using to write notes in, she scribbles out a question onto the empty page, ‘ _What makes you think I’d know?_ ’ turning it around for the future King to see once she finished.

“You’re the only one I can ask,” he didn’t feel like dealing with the teasing Emir and Aziz were sure to give, his other friends were also friends with Audrey and he wasn’t going to put anyone in that position, and he wanted the date to be a surprise for Mal so that took Jay, Carlos, and Evie out of the running, along with the fact that those not at Auradon Prep didn’t know yet, and hopefully wouldn’t until he could tell his parents in person on Family Day in two weeks, so he couldn’t ask his mom. “What do people on the Isle do?” He didn’t want to scare Mal away by doing something completely out of her comfort zone.

‘ _Talked_.’ They didn’t have WiFi and the TV only had two channels, neither of which were interesting enough to watch.

“I can do that. Oh, a picnic, the outdoors, its perfect thanks Zora,” rushing back towards entrance.

Confusion settled on her face again.

*************

Ben gulped in the water of the Enchanted Lake, crisp and magical, he loved coming out here, the water was always the perfect temperature, and he’d found not many came to the place during the cooler months despite the fact that the water stayed nice. Dipping down under the water once again, confusion settled over him as the intensity of his feelings seemed to wash away, that overwhelming need to proclaim his love for the purple haired fae slowly dissipating to what it’d been before the game he proclaimed his love for her, before he ate that chocolate chip cookie. He knew it had to be a spell of some kind, a little-known fact was the Enchanted Lake washed away spells, as he swam, dipping a few more times under water as he thought back over the last week, he wonders what spell made him go from wanting to learn about Mal, to singing in front of his peers about his _ridiculous_ love for a girl he barely knew, except for her resemblance to his purple haired dream girl, and the feeling that she could be something to him. Swimming for a few minutes in the far side of the lake, hidden away from view of Mal, as he contemplated what he was to say when he finally got the courage to swim back over to the promenade where his picnic with her was happening.

What was he supposed to do? He had planned on asking Zora _not_ Mal out, not immediately, of course, he hadn’t wanted her to feel like she was the rebound girl, but soon, maybe after Coronation when he could put the extra attention he was putting into that day onto her. The pirate already showed more interest in law, in what he wanted to do, in what he wanted to accomplish as King than most. Truthfully though, in the last week he did learn more about Mal, Mal _Bertha_ he hadn’t known that before, and even with the unyielding love gone, his feelings for the sixteen-year-old, the feeling of love didn’t disappear completely even with the spell gone, he still felt like he had the possibility to love her. Though, his already growing love for Zora battled with the affections he now had for Mal.

Diving under the water, he grabbed for a crystal rock that glowed at the bottom of the lake, breaking the surface in time to hear Mal calling out to him in a panic just before something splashed into the water followed by the sounds of her struggling in the calm water, he starts over to her in a quick pace, lifting her out of the water just as she starts to go under, her flailing arms wrapping around his neck to keep her anchored as he carried her over to the concrete slab that jutted out into the water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? Questions? Let me know in the comments.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos' are life.


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